Michigan State Police Detective Lt. Cam Henke, commander of the Sixth District Special Investigation section, said Tuesday that the investigation into the April 27, 2012, death of Alvaro Loera is active.

A team of investigators are continuing to gather leads, he said.

As of Tuesday, Jan. 15, a suspect or suspects hadn’t been identified, Henke said.

Loera, 72, had been beaten and stabbed multiple times in the morning
hours of April 27 inside his home in the 2900 block of Waalkes Street in
Muskegon Heights.

Henke said the MSP investigative team is still in the process of looking over evidence gathered from the gruesome scene inside Loera’s home.

“We have analyzed all the evidence that was gathered at the scene and we have requested some additional examination of some of that evidence,” Henke said.

The Muskegon Heights Police Department initially handled the case until it was turned over to state police officials. Henke said his investigators have reviewed much of the Muskegon Heights Police Department material and will go from there.

“A number of people had been talked to by the Muskegon Heights Police Department at the time of the original investigation. We have familiarized ourselves with that information and a number of those people are on our list to recontact,” Henke said.

Loera, owner of the popular Flamingo II Mexican restaurant that still operates on Laketon Avenue, was well-known in the Muskegon Heights community.

Family members have insisted Loera’s killer is someone Loera knew enough to let into his Muskegon Heights home the morning of his death. Loera’s home operated with a buzz-in door system and family members believe the man wouldn’t have allowed someone he didn’t know into his home.

Police believe the homicide occurred sometime shortly after 9 a.m. but before 11 a.m. Loera lived alone in his home and had been widowed for some time before his death, family members said.